Shipra, Author at Live From A Lounge

Weekly Roundup : February 28, 2016

February 28, 2016 by Shipra Leave A Comment

Hello from Mumbai. I have been extremely busy all of this week, but Ajay in spite of a busy week did manage to cover a variety of topics. So, here is a quick round up from the week gone by. Credit Cards Citi Prestige Credit Card offers a British Airways Executive Club upgrade, enabling Ajay to get a 2-year oneworld Emerald status. Also, there are changes the changes in benefits Citi Prestige is implementing April onwards. Among other things, the Gold upgrade status on Etihad is going away. 2 years of OneWorld Emerald with the Citi Prestige Credit Card Citi Prestige benefits changing w.e.f. April 2016 Loyalty Program News Jet Airways has published adjustments to its partner award charts effective this April, the result being we will need a lot…

Weekly Roundup : February 21, 2016

February 21, 2016 by Shipra Leave A Comment

a pie chart with numbers and a few different colored circles

Hello from Mumbai, where we are almost set to bid goodbye to February 2016.

It has been a week catching up on a lot of loyalty program changes apart from new stuff that has been coming up about promotions from Etihad and IHG. Also, there is a big JPMiles Giveaway inside.

Here is hoping you will find the posts useful.

SPG announces 2016 category changes: Indian hotels get expensive in awards!

February 20, 2016 by Shipra 1 Comment

The season for hotel category adjustments is here and while we have shared with you the changes for IHG and Marriott, now Starwood has announced its category changes for 2016. The change will come in to effect from March 1, 2016. As a quick reminder Starwood hotels globally range between categories 1 to 7 and operate under the following brand names. Global Impact Overall 282 Starwood hotels have been affected this year with the category change. 168 hotels are going up and 114 are going down the index, clearly indicating that overall the Starwood portfolio has gotten expensive. The regions with maximum number of increases are US, Europe and Asia and there have been significant category decreases in Canada, Russia…

Marriott rejigging categories for 18% hotels in March 2016

February 18, 2016 by Shipra 6 Comments

Marriott Rewards announced overnight the changes they are making to hotel categories for the year 2016. These changes will be in effect from March 24, 2016. This change largely impacts the US where over 650 hotels will see a category change.

Find out the list of hotels changing inside.

The Myles Self-Drive Experience

February 16, 2016 by Shipra 4 Comments

Myles is a self-drive car hire service offered by India’s largest fleet operator Carzonrent. We recently tried out their services for a weekend getaway out of Mumbai, and this is a review of our first experience with their service.

While you can read the review, you also have a promo code inside to get INR 600 off on your bookings.

Hilton HHonours Double Points or Miles Promotion is on

February 6, 2016 by Shipra Leave A Comment

Hotel loyalty programs are all in full swing with their promotions for the first quarter of 2016 and this year Hilton has brought back its Double Your HHonors promotion for 2016. The first thing to note is that this promotion is nothing new and is nearly identical to the promotion Hilton has been offering for the last 2 years. This promotion is valid for stays between January1 until April 30,2016 and the proposition is quite simple: Hilton members who opt for ”Points & Points” will earn double the number of base Hilton Hhonors points on every stay. On the other hand, members who choose ”Points & Miles” will earn double the number of base airline miles of every stay during…

HHonors offering 80 percent bonus points till February 8, 2016

February 6, 2016 by Shipra 4 Comments

Hilton HHonors is offering a points sale till February 8, 2016, where you get 80 percent bonus when you buy points. We examine here if this sale is worth your time or not. Have a look inside.

Have you signed up for the IHG Accelerate 2016 Promotion?

February 4, 2016 by Shipra 4 Comments

IHG came out with the details of their Accelerate promotion for 2016 a while ago. Here is a recap of the promotion again.

Have you had a chance to look at your offers and figure out if you want to send your stays their way?

SPG Take Two Promotion for 2x Starpoints till April 2016

February 3, 2016 by Shipra Leave A Comment

a beach chairs on a deck overlooking a body of water

SPG’s Take Two promotion is offering bonus points for stays of two nights or more. Also, there is a new tiered promo offer which allows you to get up to 10000 more points if you are a Starwood regular.

Read inside to find out all the details you need to know

Club Carlson’s 5000 bonus points for 2 stays

January 29, 2016 by Shipra 1 Comment

Club Carlson is out with a new promotion which will help you score 5000 easy points for two stays at Club Carlson hotels.

Find all the details inside. The promotion is valid till March 31, 2016.

IHG Announces PointBreak Winter 2016

January 26, 2016 by Shipra Leave A Comment

IHG Reward Club comes up with a hotel promotion every quarter, where various IHG hotels are offered for discounted redemptions of 5000 points.

The current list of hotels has been published and this is valid from January 25, 2016 to April 30, 2016. Have a look inside to find the relevant details.